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Trading Hours For Dollars

There are many ways to make money in this world. By far the most common is trading hours for dollar, also known as a job. Maybe it’s the fact that I have never held a job for more than a year of my entire life, but I just can’t understand why people would choose to make their income this way. Trading hours for the dollar is like the worst possible method of earning a living one can make. Here’s why.

You Are Taxed The Most

If you trade hours for dollars, congratulation! You are the government’s biggest income source! And there is no way for you to escape it because the company you trade hours for dollars with will withhold the tax money from your paycheck. And speaking of tax, you’re number one! The more you make, the more they take – up to 50% of every dollar. Of the three entities that are subject to income tax (individuals, corporations and trust) no other entity is taxed as highly as an individual trading hours for dollars. Give yourself a pat on the back for being the government’s biggest money train.

You Have The Fewest Tax Breaks

Not only are you taxed the most but you have the fewest tax breaks available. While a company can write off pretty much anything that is used in the course of their business, you have to use after tax dollars to get to work, eat your lunch, buy cloths, fill the gas tank, etc. About the only real tax break available to people who trade hours for dollars is the RRSP (IRA or 401K in the US). And most of you don’t take advantage it!

You Only Earn Dollars When You’re Trading

Trading hours for dollar creates no residual or passive income – if you’re not trading, you’re not making any money. It’s a tough balancing act. You want to earn a living but you also want to spend time with family and friends. It’s give and take. When you trade hours for dollars, you can’t have both. If you want more time with family, you have to trade less. If you want to make more money, you have to keep trading. But then you run into the next problem.

There Are Only 24 Hours In A Day

It doesn’t matter how many dollars you trade your hours for, you are limited to 24 hours just like everyone else. And it’s really hard to trade hours for dollars 24 hours a day. That puts a cap on your income. Even if you’re a high power lawyer that bills out at $500 an hour you still have a cap. And while you’re making good money, you’re still trading hours for dollar. The instant you stop trading, the money stops.

Eventually a time will come when you can no longer trade hours for dollars. This will happen either by you becoming sick, in accident or are forced to retired. What happens then depends on the decisions you made earlier in life. If you planned well, you’ll have enough to live on without trading hours for dollars. However, statistics shows that the majority doesn’t plan well and will be force to take some kind of social handout – either by the government or family.

If you trade hours for dollar I would recommend you take a serious look at your situation. Look at how much the government is taking from you vs. what they take from corporations. How come my company, TTZ Media Inc only pays 17.5% tax on its income while you have to pay 50% if you made the same amount? What will happen to you and your family if you can no longer trade hours for dollars? Most of us don’t carry enough life insurance. We all like to think we’re invincible but we’re not.

Another great article John. It’s very interesting that you are now writing and pointing me to this type of content, because I am just starting to research and learn more about my “financial intelligence”.
For all those reading, take John’s advice and learn more. A few good books to start with are “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Inc Yourself”.

It’s nice that you are able to write this article about how silly people are to work for a living. The world would work fine on pure arbitrage, right? Oh wait… people still have to work to build the computer you’re using, mine and produce the energy that runs it, and maintain the infrastructure that allows the whole deal to operate. You can trade good A for good B, or make a killing in derivatives, but all it really comes down to is exploitation. Finance is important, but what really makes the world go round is the back-breaking labor of the working people you so shamelessly deride.

“Maybe it’s the fact that I have never held a job for more than a year of my entire life, but I just can’t understand why people would choose to make their income this way”

Wow. Jaw to the floor, shocked beyond comprehension, Wow. You, sir, are a cocksucker. People don’t “choose to make their income this way.” We are forced to. We have no choice. Not everyone is Albert-fucking-Einstein. Not everyone has a great idea to market, or a patent to profitably litigate over. Not everyone has old money and a god-damned trust fund. Most people have absolutely no choice but to work meaningless, demeaning, soul sucking jobs. We have to or we don’t eat. We have to or we don’t clothe our children. We have to or we die. Can you understand that? Is that simple enough for you?

It’s horrendous that someone can be so brazenly arrogant and so disturbingly out of touch with reality. After reading that article, I honestly, and with every fiber of my hour-selling being, hope you choke on your own blood.

love the article. just a sad thing when america’s youth are taught a lie from such a young age about trading their time for dollars–“get an education, get a good job, and you will succeed”. chasing active income will rarely ever lead to financial freedom. the passive income options are definitely the route to follow—a.)investments and b.)working with a business system backed by a proven system pattern.

this alternative way of thinking about making money is what is leading up to a very early retirement for this 20-something.

by no means am i putting jobs down…i fully respect anyone willing to work 50, 60, 70+ hours a week for the 40-50 years—with a good likelyhood of retiring on a small portion of their original income; but its definitely not the path i choose to follow.

you are only on the big ball of mud once–might as well make it a worth while adventure.

I agreed up till that point. And I agree in a small way that the author is a little arrogant, but then some people are inspired by arrogance. That arrogance may be what drives some people to find a great idea to market, an invention to patent, or find some other (hopefully legal and ethically / morally positive), non hourly way to make a living.

Everyone else, well… hoping anyone chokes on their food no mater who they are may be the same attitude that keeps you working hourly.

fijidave12, with all due respect, it may work for you, but if everyone did what you’re doing, it would not work for you or anyone else at all. I’m not exactly sure what you’d be investing in if no one worked. In reality, as you well know, you give them your money, and by working their butts off they turn it into more money. You certainly deserve your share of the profits from the risk you were willing to take, but that money-making scheme is completely moot if you don’t have someone willing to actually do something real with your money and their time. That’s the way it works. That’s the only way it can work. It’s ridiculous and academic and, in your case, self-defeating to discuss everyone following your path. It’s not within the realm of possibility. Congratulations on your success, btw.

Talk about a strawman argument. First of all, the marginal tax rate on income tops out at 35%, not 50%. And it’s a *marginal* tax rate. In 2003, People with income under $200K paid about 14% on average. Even the most taxed individuals paid only about 25%.

And sure your company only pays 17.5% tax. What good does that do *you*? Add in the tax that accrues when the money flows from your company to you and then how does it compare?

There are certainly benefits to making money without working, but its not clear you understand them.

Trading hours for dollars could be the best deal if you could not otherwise get access to the same resources. Many times the most valuable resources are time/exposure to highly experienced and creative people. You have to move around in order to make this happen (that’s the downside).

Part of knowing what you want to do (or not want to do) is achieved by trading hours for dollars.

Spending the majority of your life doing it is certainly a waste.. but it could be the most productive thing to do when you are discovering your real passion.

Hey Zylog, congratulations on sounding 10 times more arrogant than John Chow. In fact, after reading your heartless and single minded post, it is quite obvious why you are so hopelessly dependant on your way of living. You lack the confidence or determination to take risk or try something different. In no way are you forced to “work meaningless, demeaning, soul sucking jobs.” From the moment you turn 18, you have the exact same legal freedoms as Bill Gates as well as the homeless man on the street. And it doesnt take an “Albert Fucking Einstein” to get ahead. It takes guts, and risk taking. Something you obviously do not possess.

Devilhorn, how much do you donate to charity? I’d be willing to guess hardly anything. It’s a statistical fact that rich people give away a larger percentage of thier wealth than do poor people. I know a guy who makes $500,000 and gives away $80,000 a year to charity. So if you make $40,000 a year… do you give $6,400 to charity? Probably not, most people dont give more than $20 a month. And you’re calling the rich selfish? Try looking at yourself.

The article claims that “trading hours for the dollar is like the worst possible method of earning a living one can make.” There is no argument possible because the claim itself is flawed — nobody is trading hours for money.

I spent 8 hours at work today. According to this article, I “traded” 8 hours to my boss for say $200. The money side of the trade is real — my bank account will increase when I get my paycheck. The “hours” side of the trade is not — my boss certainly did not magically gain 8 hours in his life.

Then, what is it I am trading to gain $200? Essentially my boss tells me that if I write (and “trade” to him) some PHP code that does a certain function, then he will trade to me $200. THAT is the real trade.

Even if trading time for money was possible, some of the supporting arguments don’t really make sense either.

Argument 1 & 2: really the same argument — there are ways where the goverment taxes you less. No big news here.

Argument 3: “You only earn dollars when you’re trading”

This is not an argument! Assuming we’re not talking about inheritances, donations, etc. no one is going to trade to me money if I don’t trade them back something. “Passive” income is simply a more efficient way of exchanging something you have for money. Clearly, I need to trade something in order to get dollars (or something else) back…

Argument 4: “If you trade hours for dollars, there is a cap on your income.” (I paraphrased because what is written makes no sense.)

Wow,
Call it what you like Chi, if you have a job, where you perform a duty or function for some company or person, you are trading your time, for their dollars. If you don’t understand this idea, have some person that does understand explain it to you. It doesn’t matter what you are doing during that time, writing code, answering the phone, or flippin’ burgers, you are trading your time for their dollars. The company you work for is leveraging off your effort. I was taught trading time for money my whole life, and told that it was what I was suppose to do when I grew up; wow, what an eye opener when I finally figured out that it wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to be in life. Find a way to make residual/passive income or leverage off other’s efforts.

To the others that are complaining that they are forced to trade their time for money, I say that it just doesn’t hurt bad enough for you yet. There are plenty of ways to earn extra income and/or break out of the mold if you want it bad enough. I guess you just haven’t got to that point where you hate what you are doing for work bad enough to make a change. When I see a person complain that they don’t like what they are doing, I simply tell them, Change It or Shut Up, your choice.

You answered your own statement…
You said, “… I just can’t understand why people would choose to make their income this way.”

Then you say…
“What happens then depends on the decisions you made earlier in life. If you planned well, …[but] the majority doesn’t plan well…”

Its as simple as that, the choice to make a living “trading hours for dollars” was made by choices earlier in our lives. Either those of our parents, our teachers, our community, or ourselves.

The very same economic system that enables you to live well without trading hours for dollars is predicated upon someone trading those hours for dollars.

Are you trying to tell us that it is possible for the 6 billion + people on the planet to “live” without anyone trading hours for money?

Yeah, you’re right, we could trade hours, for hours. In other words do away with money.

And perhaps we ought to, because then all these people who do “nothing” wouldn’t be able to survive living off of the people who actually “work”.

Those of us who actually make goods or provide services could get goods or be provided with services. Anyone who doesn’t contribute, would be dependent upon charity, or SOL.

How’s that sound…
That’s right, we humans used to do that, bartering.
And we even tried the altruistic idea of communism.

But in every instance of those economic systems, and even the pragmatic ones we’re using now, there are those who think that if it is possible to get goods or services, and not have to provide them, well then that’s obviously the way to go!

Problem is folks, physics reaches all the way into economics… you do not get something for nothing.
You might think you are, but the system will balance out in the end, somehow.

@trey
The distinction is important. Time passes no matter what we do (or don’t do). Money is traded for some good — like a work product.

“Find a way to make residual/passive income or leverage off other’s efforts.”

I don’t argue that this is a good idea. However, I take issue with the implication that this somehow lets you avoid “trading time for money.” Time is spent one way or another. This happens to be a more efficient way to “spend time”.

To the others who say they have no choice: the problem isn’t that you don’t have a choice — you do. You can choose to be smarter (i.e. efficient) about getting people to trade you money, or not.

I think the inflamatory replies and derogatory comments towards John are very comical. Talk about shooting the messenger.

I didn’t see John state that “no one on the earth should trade hours for money”. As a few of you have mentioned, hourly workers make most of the world go round. John is simply pointing out that this is the most inefficient form of obtaining an income for an individual. People with a higher “financial intelligence” realize this.

The “we are forced” or “we don’t have a choice” posts are also hilarious. People with this attitude will most likely trade hours for dollars for the rest of their lives.

I believe I saw a few posts stating “what are the alternatives” or “what can we do”. As I already stated in my previous reply, a good start would be to read the book “RICH DAD, POOR DAD”.

If you insist on looking at it as trading hours for money, then everyone trades hours for money. All you’re talking about is whether the money you’ve traded your hours for comes to you in a lump sum (paycheck) or through smaller payments spread out over a larger period of time.

Investors don’t simply toss out money and watch more money come back to them. They or whoever provided them with their investment capital spend hours trading their time for money in what was most likely a typical job. Once this capital is in hand, the investor then again spends hours researching in order to make a good investment.

Business owners, at least the standard business owner, actually spends even more hours working for money than the standard employee. Running a successful business is not an easy task and requires a great deal of effort and management. Bill Gates may have a considerable amount of money, but I imagine he spent an equally considerable amount of hours to earn the money that he’s made.

Those that earn money based on creative works invest their time in both learning how to perform the act of creation as well as the creation itself.

The concept that you can earn money without “trading hours” is simply a fallacy. The real goal that I believe people should be seeking isn’t necessarily a way to avoid a traditional job. Instead, I believe they should find something that they will enjoy doing as they trade their hours for money. As long as you do that, it doesn’t matter what job you’re doing, you’ve already won.

I think these comments are hilarious.. I’ve known John for almost 10 years, and it’s funny that people are accusing him of having “old money” and things like that… John’s been there folks. He’s done the 9-5 thing, and more. There’s a REASON he feels the way he does, and it’s not just arrogance.

When I was 18 I got my first job after high school. I learned very quickly that no matter what someone paid me, they were making more money off my work. After a year of trading my hours away, I decided to go in for myself. Since then, I haven’t worked for anyone other than myself. It’s been almost 10 years now, and I agree with John 1000% in EVERYTHING he says in this post. And the funny thing is, we’ve had similar conversations about this topic, and he’s actually holding back in this post 😉

In response to a brief survey of the comments–my job (ER Doc) is not soul sucking. Even though I have an employer (hospital, or hospital-via-group contract), which puts many, many constraints and demands upon me that detract from my enjoyment of my work, generally speaking I make directly a significant contribution to someone’s life and well-being, which leaves me satisfied, renumerated, and respected.

Despite trading hours for pay, my expert status leaves me with enough income and free time so I can enjoy my life. Some doctors (medical/surgical specialists) choose to fulfill niche roles that enable them to extract maximum reimbursement from their time commitment. Seeing my father’s broken marriages, despite his successful oncology practice, makes me wonder at the particularly American practice of being rich. Other people (family, charity) spend the bulk of his money. He enjoys himself, sure, but only after 20 years of hardship, working ~70 hours per week.

I will probably follow the European model of “work to live,” versus the American model of “live to work”. Instead of parceling out work/live tradeoffs serially, I will incorporate work in parallel to support the lifestyle and level of service that I see fit for as long as I am able. Work is not a means to an end, it should be an end worth supporting throughout.

Well said, John. The idiots who say you can’t be right or are doing something unethical are trapped by their own stupidity.

It’s possible to make enough money to live quite well without working 9 to 5 — I do it myself. I don’t have a boss and I “work” at home. Because I don’t have to go to an office my expenses are a lot lower: no commuting costs, no work clothes to buy, no lunches, and my business pays for my broadband connection and telephone. If I don’t feel like working, I don’t. Most of the time I just do as I please.

However, you and I do need these idiots with jobs, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to live as well as we do. Every society needs drones. So don’t tell them any secrets, they can work them out for themselves — as we had to do. 😉

The only way to make that sort of passive income as JC has stated is to go into business with your self. Fortunately there are plenty of sources that help with this, I have been searching.. and thinking that my search has paid off.

The other reality is, someone has to pour the soup at the cafe, someone has to drip the coffee, the service industry will always be like that, unless you hire someone to do the work for you.. most people in service jobs (the coffee ones get charged out at 8/hour).

This article is irrelevant, as a matter of fact, all John’s aricles are irrelevant now.

But JOHN CHOW!! What a man, what a mogul – my hero!!

Lets look at John for a moment. Now there’s a man who’s truly had a very sad and lonely childhood. Probably couldn’t do anything good enough for dad.

So, driven by a deep feeling of worthlessness, John labours to ‘arrive’ – which to him means rolling in the money (that’s a whole new issue).

What does he do? He writes an article implying that he’s never lifted a finger to achieve his success! Then he stomps on those who do.

Nooooo, John DID NOT trade hours for dollars. While he lay in bed dreaming, dollars began pouring into his bank account.

Wake up John, take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror. Sad to break the bad news to you buddy, but you are no different than those you’ve just crapped on. Everyday, you trade hours for dollars, only now YOU look like a complete and utter moron.

Finally, how does someone like John celebrate in the excitement of his success? He arrogantly pisses all over everyone who is doing exactly what he is doing… trading hours for dollars.

“Ahhhhhhhh…”

Does that feel better John? Do you feel important now? I hope so, because it’s come at a cost – respect.

w00t!!
ok Wow Sorry it took me so long to put in my two cents worth but I was off trading hours for money..
Oh Yeah.. I was working…. I have actually read through ALL the replies and did not bother with what John actually Posted…
I have known him personally since 1998 and have since learned a great deal from him, and hope to learn more.
I have worked all my life for wages ranging from $5/ hour as a student… to now making over $30/hour..
but as I am out there trading my time for dollars…. I am not close-minded to new ideas on making money…
if I could Supplement my income I would… if I could eventually “replace” my income I would like that even more.
What all of you who have only negative things to say about ole’ Johnny are forgetting is tha,t
while he may not do the Traditional 9-5 thing he did many many years ago…
his brilliant mind has allowed him the success that a lot of us in these replies would kill for…
he has shared an opinion… an idea…. do with it as you will..
But wishing him or anyone death by choking on their own blood and such doesn’t make you a very nice human being.
and like many said you deserve exactly what you get…
My hourly trade off is over $30/hour at the moment.. and I am happy doing so….
with John’s help I may too become one of those people that makes money while I sleep…
but till then I will endeavor to make my life as pleasant and worry free as I can by doing something I “Like” and make the best of it…

Complaining about ones success will not get you anywhere….
I even hear how some complain when “ANOTHER” wins the lottery….
and usually those are the ones that don’t even by a lottery ticket in the first place….

John too had to trade time for dollars every time he writes an article.. or even a post in his blog takes time away.
he simply makes more for his few minutes of writing than the rest of us…….
I remember a little thing he said once a long time ago…
I told him I make $22/hour…. he said, “damn!! you make more than me”….. I was Lost…
then he relied…. “You make $22/hour….. I make $15/hour… I just happen to make it 24 hours a day”

So instead of complaining about it. DO SOMETHING…!!!

Wow that was more than two cents worth…
damn……. won’t make me any money though….
it might for John though!

The only thing I think John did wrong here was to imply (whether he meant to or not) that he has never and does not trade hours for money. He does, just like everyone else. But he’s smart with his time and his money and his time:cash ratio shows it.
And a thing I think most people aren’t seeing here is his article is not saying you can work at a normal job and still make smart money. Read some more of his articles. You can still leverage the money you make at a normal job, continue with your life, and make smarter money in the process. If you enjoy working, then this is a good alternative. I really like Mudzy’s reply, I agree with him.

I’ve read this blog for about a month now, and this is the most worth-while one I have ever found. Keep it up John!

Wow… the replies here are so over the top and out of proportion to the stated opinion. If this were my blog, I would shut it down because it’s simply attracting the wrong type of reader.

I wouldn’t want you guys to know that I exist, I wouldn’t want you guys to read my thoughts, and I would go out of my way to ensure that people around me are nothing like you guys.

It’s obvious that a large number of you are just reading John Chow’s (who is that?) blog because of the scent of money, and you’re aggressive and unhappy because you’re still wage slaving for a pittance.

I believe everything John stated in his post is true and to the point. I’ve known John for over 3 years now, his tips and knowledge has never been wrong for me. Now, I’m a college student, and since the day I turned 18 I’ve been into building my own businesses, online and offline. I’ve been my own boss and still am, and now I am somewhat weathly. Don’t need to work 9 – 5 anymore.

John is absolutely right. The people who are pissed off are the ones who are too fucking dim-witted to understand things SHOULD be different.

I just showed this article to a wage-nigger (Slave is respectful of a term for these people.), and ended in an hour long argument where he refused to point out where John was wrong, but kept telling me “You don’t want to work, live on the street!”

You want some cold hard facts? The only reason we have “jobs” at all is because human life is cheaper and more disposable than the more efficient robot you SHOULD be replaced with.

There is almost NO job left where a human being has to be there to do it. The only reason for wage-niggers in these days is to keep the animals busy so they don’t shit all over the rich people.

As long as YOU all keep letting that be your life, human life will get cheaper and cheaper.

I DO wish John had offered some alternatives.

But here are mine… Let’s change the damn system!!!!

Why SHOULD we be the highest taxed and least rewarded. Tax the ass off those corporations. Let’s invert that 50% Vs 17% so individuals are the 17%.

Let’s make sure that 50% corporate tax goes to our nationalized health care, and not some pork projects for the ultra rich.

I shouldn’t need the “Keep Ratteler Alive Corp.” as a shelter and a dodge to protect my rights. They should be inherent as part of my individual rights, and “individuals” should be the most important group in the country. With all others a very distant second.

Hopefully John will chime in with some tips and ideas on changes other than sweeping social reform. Something we all CAN do as indivudals.

“The only thing I think John did wrong here was to imply (whether he meant to or not) that he has never and does not trade hours for money. He does, just like everyone else.”

Entrepreneurs don’t trade hours for money, we trade hours for income producing assets. If we stop working today, our income will stay the same because these assets that we have spent our time creating will keep working for us. If an employee stops working today, their income will stop today along with them.

John did not imply that he has never traded hours for money. He admitted that he has. Fortunately, he has since wisened up and no longer chooses to do it.

You go John!! 🙂 Don’t let these negative peons stop you. You have well earned the title of a mongul from all the blood sweat and tears you put in when you first got started with TTZ! (I know because I was there at the site as well.) You had “GOALS” and you have achieved them! Most of the time instead of people “trying” to better themselves they had rather gripe at someone else getting ahead.

I retired the first of the year @ the ripe old age of 37 and I do as I please – go where I want to go!! 🙂 Of course I have put in a lot of hours but I had the brains to know how to “INVEST” for my future, so I wouldn’t have to work my ass off for the rest of my young years! 😉

It’s disturbing that no one replied to Dex’s post. (duplicated below). In essense, he is a doctor who trades plenty of hours for money, but enjoys doing so despite the disadvantages.

The work of his profession makes the lives of other better in a fundamental way. And yet half of the responders here continue to call people like him who have a regular job demeaning names like “wage-slave” “wage-nigger” “peon”. How can others not see this attitude as least being arrogant and elitist?

Dex’s post —

Interesting. I’m here to discuss this from a medical point of view.

In response to a brief survey of the comments–my job (ER Doc) is not soul sucking. Even though I have an employer (hospital, or hospital-via-group contract), which puts many, many constraints and demands upon me that detract from my enjoyment of my work, generally speaking I make directly a significant contribution to someone’s life and well-being, which leaves me satisfied, renumerated, and respected.

Despite trading hours for pay, my expert status leaves me with enough income and free time so I can enjoy my life. Some doctors (medical/surgical specialists) choose to fulfill niche roles that enable them to extract maximum reimbursement from their time commitment. Seeing my father’s broken marriages, despite his successful oncology practice, makes me wonder at the particularly American practice of being rich. Other people (family, charity) spend the bulk of his money. He enjoys himself, sure, but only after 20 years of hardship, working ~70 hours per week.

I will probably follow the European model of “work to live,” versus the American model of “live to work”. Instead of parceling out work/live tradeoffs serially, I will incorporate work in parallel to support the lifestyle and level of service that I see fit for as long as I am able. Work is not a means to an end, it should be an end worth supporting throughout.

“The work of his profession makes the lives of other better in a fundamental way. And yet half of the responders here continue to call people like him who have a regular job demeaning names like “wage-slave” “wage-nigger” “peon”. How can others not see this attitude as least being arrogant and elitist?”

I am an entrepreneur and would never call an employee a demeaning name. Of course some entrepreneurs are arrogant, but there are arrogant employees too, ya know? Dex certainly makes the lives of others better, but is trading hours the best way to do that? If he spends an average of 30 minutes with each patient, he can make 24 people’s lives better each day if he works 12 hours a day. Also, when he stops working, the positive effect that he has on new patients lives will stop along with his income. Why not create an asset that produces income and also helps people whether you are working or not? Don’t you think that would be smarter? I am not familiar with the medical industry at all, so the example that I’m about to give may not be realistic, but I’m positive that there is a way to create an income and love producing asset in your industry and hopefully this will get you thinking about how you can create more money and love with a business than you can by yourself. Create a clinic, hospital, office, etc. full of equipment that doctors would noot have access to on their own. Surely these things are expensive, but with a good business plan you should be able to get a loan. Charge doctors a monthly fee (let’s say $500) to setup shop in your building. All it takes is one doctor paying you to do as much good as you’re currently doing for people. Now, when you are not working, you are earning $1000 a month, and helping the same number of people as you were before (only now your asset is doing it for you). Now add 9 more doctors. Now you’d be helping 10 times more people than you do now and you’d earn $10000 a month for doing nothing. Now why not expand? Since you are not trading hours for money, there is no limit on the amount of money you can make or the amount of people you can help.

Chi wrote: “I spent 8 hours at work today. According to this article, I “traded” 8 hours to my boss for say $200. […] Essentially my boss tells me that if I write (and “trade” to him) some PHP code that does a certain function, then he will trade to me $200. THAT is the real trade.”

Seems to me that you traded to your boss *both* the 8 hours of your life *and* the PHP code. The 8 hours of your life without the PHP code would not be accepted. But how about the opposite? If you would succeed to write the same amount of PHP code in e.g. 1 hour, could you then just stand up and go home? If yes, then you are really trading your work. If no, then you are trading your time too; you must include your time as a part of the package, and you have only 24 hours daily…

As Robert G. Allen points out, the objective in setting up your own business is M.O.N.E.Y.T.R.E.E.:

M: Multiple streams of income (not just one)
O: Outstanding product or service (sell only the best)
N: Nothing down (don’t invest a lot of your own money)
E: Employee-resistant (they’re nothing but trouble)
Y: Yield (go for high profit cash cows)
T: Trend and Timing (go with the flow, not against it)
R: Residual income (earning while you’re asleep)
E: Essential to Everybody Everyday (your products/services)
E: Enthusiasm (love what you do)

Thanks John for the insights – CORRECT
as they could be, and thanks David for
the reminder of the M.O.N.E.Y.T.R.E.E.

As for the people that felt offended by
what John wrote – he is not your enemy,
but by thinking the way you do – you are
your own enemy…Learn and Take Responsibility
for everything in your life…only so you’ll
be able to make as change, or to start a change
in your life’s circumstances.

There are plenty of positive posts that
I agree with here, and what Dex posted
is also the other side of the same coin
– it all depends what your priorities are…

It isnt easy being an entreperuer. Most enterprenuers have to work far more then 40 hours a week to be succesful. Most businesses fail and that is just the way the system is meant to work. Not everyone can be rich. For every rich person there has to be at least 50 poor people (if not more) and for every entrepernuer there has to be 20 employees.

Many entrepeuers work 80 hour weeks for years before the ever turn a profit.

"How I Went From Zero to Over $100,000 a Month"

The Original Dot Com Mogul

John Chow, a damn fine person, friend of the community, Ultimate Fighting Championship contestant, member of the Save the Whales Foundation, the man who controls the black market on baby seal pelts and member of the probably yo’ daddy foundation...

John Chow rocketed onto the blogging scene when he showed the income power of blogging by taking his blog from making zero to over $40,000 per month in just two years.